Council to Have 26 Members; Opens April, Arab Press Reports

Apparently authentic details as to the composition of the legislative council for Palestine, which will be officially proclaimed Saturday, are published in the Arab press today. According to the press, the council will be formally established in April and will comprise twenty-six members in addition to the president.

High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope has invited Jewish leaders to meet with him Sunday, it was learned today, to hear announcement of the new assembly which will rule Palestine. Arab leaders are scheduled to be informed of the long-expected and frequently deferred development on Saturday at a meeting with the High Commissioner.

Of the twenty-six council members, the Arab press reports, sixteen will be elected and ten will be appointed, probably by the High Commissioner. Eight of the elective seats are slated to go to Moslems, three to Christian Arabs and five to Jews.

The ten appointive seats will be apportioned among three or four mayors of the larger cities of Palestine, members of the High Commissioner’s present advisory council and heads of Government departments.

The president of the assembly, according to the Arab press, will be an Englishman. The assembly will have two vice-presidents, one an Arab and the other a Jew.

According to El Islamiah, Arab daily, immigration and sale of land will be exempt from jurisdiction of the assembly.